The northern half of the 270-acre reservoir and its 844-acre watershed are in New Fairfield, with the far end coming right up against the town's center.

"I think it's a fabulous idea," Hodge said. "I love it. I love every aspect of it. People love to walk. As soon as we opened the new track at the high school, the place was filled.''

Dr. Peter Rostenberg, a New Fairfield internist and environmental activist, has been advocating a trail system around the reservoir for several years. In December 2003 he wrote to Boughton urging the city to build "strategically located footpaths" in the city, starting with one around the Margerie Reservoir.

Rostenberg said he wants such footpaths because he wants people to exercise more. Lack of exercise, and the obesity that often accompanies it, is a major health problem in the United States today. A host of medical problems -- including heart disease and diabetes -- are linked to a sedentary lifestyle.

"Walking is among the best cardiovascular exercises, and our elderly can do it with less stress on their joints,'' Rostenberg said in his letter to Boughton.

But to get people walking, Rostenberg said, towns must give them good, safe places to push a stroller or pedal a bike.

"Convenience matters," he said last week.

Iadarola said there's one initial hitch to the plan. The Margerie Reservoir and its watershed are considered Class 1 watershed land. The Department of Public Health strictly regulates this land, to prevent drinking water from being polluted.

To build the trails, he said, the city would have to ask the state to change that classification to Class 1 watershed land with recreational use allowed.

The city would have to design the trail so it would be safe for both walkers and the reservoir's water. Because there are broad swales, or depressions, running down to the reservoir from Route 37, Iadarola said the city might have to design small footbridges across some of them.

But using watershed land for recreation is not unheard of. Several water companies and authorities now allow it. There are trails that cross the watersheds of the nearby Saugatuck and Aspectuck reservoirs.

Matt Nozzolio, spokesman for the Metropolitan District Commission, which supplies Hartford with water through a series of reservoirs in central Connecticut, said the commission allows public access around some of its reservoirs while limiting access to others.

After the state of Connecticut, he said, the MDC is "the single biggest provider of recreational land in the state.''

Rather than proving worrisome, he said, the commission has found that letting the public use the watershed can prove beneficial.

"The public becomes our eyes and ears," he said. "It's not uncommon, if they see a vehicle in a place where they don't think it belongs, for people to gives us a call."

In the New Haven area, the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority sells annual passes -- $20 for individuals, $30 for families -- to anyone who wants to use its 50 miles of recreational roads and trails, as well as fish in three reservoirs and two streams.

"This goes back to our mission when we were founded in 1978," said authority spokeswoman Joan Huwiler. "We want to provide high-quality drinking water but also recreation.''

Rather than damaging the land, she said, the people who use it "have a appreciation for the land and a sense of stewardship."

Rostenberg of New Fairfield said the trails he would like to see around the Margerie Reservoir would be relatively flat and easy for people to use.

"I think it would be an enormous benefit to the public," he said. "They can built it in phases. Once the first phase is built, it will be incredibly popular, and the towns will want to build the next phase."